The critic's posts are in bold
Original Archive.org Link
This is for all the team at bizarre creations who worked on MSR. You guys and gals know what real gamers want and MSR proves that you people are the best at what you do and thats making brilliant games !
MSR this is a brilliant game and i've only bought it yesterday and i'm hooked ! the realism, graphics and gameplay is out of this world. This puts my faith back in the Dreamcast, i bought it when it arrived on the scene and since R2R [Ready To Rumble] came out i thought that was it.
PS2 around the corner and that the DC would be dead in the water, and now MSR have placed my faith back in the Dreamcast i'll be playing this game everyday throughout the holidays and after !
Just like to take my hat off to you guys at bizarre creations and let you know that someone really thanks you for your great skill and expertise in gaming, at least someone out there knows what we want !
bizarre creations for me is a symbol of great gaming ! Where ever i see your symbol behind game boxes i'll be willing to part with my money without question !
Cheers guys have a great christmas and new year and may your future games have the realism, clarity and proffesionalism as MSR !
over and Out !
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Oh by the way guys i forgot any chance MSR2 on the books ? I know you guys work on projects asap so is it likely to say we DC fans will be seeing for next christmas MSR2 ?
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I hope we do bizarre creations know when they're on a winner besides SEGA will be handing BUCKET loads of cash to you guys for REVAMP of MSR like it needs it !
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I was playing MSR today as usual and found what i think is a rare bug !
On chapter 6 i think with the track where you have to overtake 11 cars in under 4mins. I was going around a corner with brake/handbrake movement and the screen went black with the timer still ticking down but the mph read and wait for it -2147483648 ! wow back in time ! and the cars on the map were stood still !
Wondering if you guys at bizarre creations found a similar bug ? any testing jobs going on ?
Still getting cramp in me hands/fingers dam DC controller not designed with the human hands, to many straight box lines, PS has the best gaming pad !
Oh had trouble going online couldnt detect modem !
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I had that bug, but I have many more fun features with my version of the game...
Toyko is night time all the time. No daylight ever shines its beautiful bright ambience on the bright neon. Ever.
Championship bug - come any position in Championships, and you'll be congratulated for coming first. Yikes.
Disappearing cars - very handy, actually. I was playing a San Francisco course (the one with the huge hill which goes on for MILES) and all the cars except my car disappeared and I came first. Coo.
Still, at least the game itself is gorgeous - first class stuff, and everything else about the title shines - superb music (except the Country and Western.. :) ), beautiful graphics, incredible handling. The non-buggy MSR should be out now. But I'm keeping my buggy copy just for the memories... *sob*
Here's hoping for MSR 2 :)
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i got a bugged copy DOH
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[redacted] my man ! hello how are you! remember me? i had a bugged copy twice! i took the first one back and got another bugged one, but it is sorted now.
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Hiya, Mr. [redacted]
Been good, still working at Jester Interactive on Hellgate for Dreamcast which should be out... at this rate... Summer 2005!! Only kidding. We're hoping for an Easter 2001 release, but if the game goes online - hooo, boy! Haven't seen you about for ages - you don't write, call or chat!! I'm still hanging around Yahoo Chat like a drunken bum, by the way...
Good to hear from you again!
Happppy Neew Year!
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cool man! i have had a lot of college work to do recently, still computergames1 ? i'll be there throughout the evenings 10-12 pm next week, jan1-8th. drunken bum lol! is it snowing where you are?
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MSR is Bugged to @#%$..very dissapointing....
how the hell it got so rated is unbeleivable..
the graphics are third rate compared to some of the more stellar efforts..
the car models reak of @#%$
and above all, what good is the game, when the most fundamentla aspect of the gameplay(the kudos system) doesn't work....
overal, i'm extremely dissapointed at how Bizzare managed this whole thing
Quite how it sold so many copies is beyond me. Sega reckon the new "bug free" copies are ready to role.....but seeing as the USA version still ain't out....the question is..how bug free is it?
The game just stinks in my opinion..any credibility it may have had, has long been flushed downb the toilet for me...
and 3 years in development?..hahahahahahahaha
what utter crap.
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so what if it isn't out in the USA yet? thats a good thing. then. i am assuming that all you have seen is the poor rolling version, where the cars did look a bit poor(dont tell em i said that) but since then, they cars have been given a more realistic look.
i have the game and i had a bugged copy, but it was no biggie, i took it back and got a fixed one.
whats this..." the graphics are third rate compared to some of the more stellar efforts.." what stellar efforts are these? GT3? seen the backgrounds and locations in that??? good???!!! don't make me laugh, they are the same as in GT1+2, MSR is one of the most complete racing games i have played ever. the Kudos system is a great way of making you drive on the grey stuff instead of bouncing around the edges. and all the challenges and stuff make you want to play it more and more!
car models reak of @#%$??? the only bad thing is they have Opels instead of Vauxhalls
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I am no fanboy...never have been....
i rate every console by its own merits...
The dreamcast has some amazing games, and is the best console have ever owned..period.
oh i had the full version....
let us make no mistake. GT3 will piss all over MSR in terms of visuals...even the backgrounds are looking top in the latest biuld..
in comparison MSR's car models look like playstation efforts
MSR is probably an amazing driving game...but the 10000 of us who got a fucked copy..are still pissed...
you have a bug free copy?....just keep telling yourself that
I rang up sega europe....they only started sending out "bug free" copies last week or so..
for me Bizzares credibility has just taken a massive nose dive
what happened?
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i did have a bugged copy twice. but i have got a good copy i exchanged this week.
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I have a bugged copy too (they all are - SEGA still haven't despatched any of the new "bug-free" batch to anybody that sent their bugged version to them to be exchanged)
Bugs or not, I think MSR has been hysterically overrated by all and sundry.
For me, it doesn't have 128bit quality. The graphics appear nice at first, but after you play it for a short while you notice some alarming discrepencies (apart from the dull car modls) - the way the cars look when it's foggy or misty is almost embarrasing, and there is severe slowdown (particularly on night-time races) when there's a lot of cars onscreen at once. Rainy weather & tyre smoke slow it even further.
Another thing, the night races are far too dark - you can hardly see where the hell you're going!
This might be realistic..I dont know, because I don't live in London, San Fransico or Tokyo..but the gameplay shouldn't suffer at the cost of being realistic.
Even when playing MSR in daylight races, it appears very DULL - is there no sunshine in these cities for god's sake?!
Although MSR as a game, is quite playable, there is very little depth to it - because of the simplified physics employed in the handling routines, there are only a few ways to take a corner in the game.
That, coupled with the fact that all of MSR's roads are perfectly flat - there's no height variations, small bumps, or undulations - these are the sort of things (and realistic handling physics) that were introduced three years ago (on a 32bit console, not a 128bit one) in Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo.
After playing GT/GT2, MSR comes across as being a rather shallow game by comparison, and seems as if it was developed with "casuals" in mind.
Only the fact that there are hundreds of "tracks" and lots of races to take part in, saves MSR from total disaster in my opinion.
To play the real "Best Racer Ever", you still need a Dreamcast, but you need to buy a game that was made in Japan. Namely, AM2's Ferrari F355 Challenge.
This is everything that MSR is not. Gorgeous to look at - rock-solid 60fps with no slowdown WHATSOEVER, beautiful weather effects, stunning car models... And a dream to play - accurate models of some of the world's finest tracks, realistic physics and handling characteristics which allow almost limitless depth to the gameplay, network race mode...F355 is a true 128bit game, and one which MSR will never live up to.
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What the...?! So, obviously you've never driven down any of the tracks in San Francisco. Plus, there's plenty of small undulations in the St James Park areas of London including the bridge. Pah. Sour grapes.
GT3 may be looking all gorgeous and all that jazz, but don't forget the fact that a game like MSR which is incredibly texture heavy will be difficult to do on PS2. Evidence of this is the piss-poor Midnight Club (Street Racing - yuk, yuk) which car models are hilariously bad.
Also, where are the human drivers in GT3? MSR has humans driving the cars, which adds a lot to the game. And poly count wise, GT3 and MSR have more or less the same amount of polys per car, just that Bizarre had to model the interiors as well. GT3 cheats with windows which are pretty untransparent so you can't see other details.
Sure, the bugged version of MSR being released was a bit of an upset but it's been rectified now. You can't criticise the cities in MSR because they're all absolutely gorgeous to look at - 3 years development, yeah, but look at where it's gone into. I keep looking, but I haven't found a single texture balls-up in any of the cities.
PS2 relies too heavily on it's superb particle abilities and heat haze, and I have played GT3 and it was a surreal experience playing courses I knew on the PSOne version rendered in PS2 quality. But you take away all those nice effects, strip down the game to it's fundamentals, and it's still GT2. Only with nicer graphics.
Besides, the handling in MSR is superb - slick, responsive and although not as realistic as GT3, it's FUN!!!! For crying out loud!!! F355 may be great and all that, but you give a copy to Mr. Causal Gamer and watch him cry as his lovely Ferrari spins out for the 120th time...
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i have already read this today and i couldn't be arsed to write all that lol! also, the only pop up i can find is either a) in your mirror, or b) in multiplayer!
ok Mr [redacted]. lol
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I wasn't talking about slopes or hills like the SF races - I'm talking about small bumps in the road surface.
Gran Turismo & F355 both have this, and because they do, they are more demanding & rewarding to play.
eg: in MSR, there's no "driver involvement" - the roads are perfectly flat, with no small bumps or banked corners to throw your car off-line.
But, playing both F355 and GT requires you to constantly correct your steering and fight to keep the car under control - even on some of the straight sections. :)
That is why I like those games so much, and why I find MSR to be a bit of a sterile experience. ;)
Regarding GT3 - yes, it dissappoints me to see those "blacked-out" windows on the car models yet again.
But, if making them transparent meant the inclusion of a "human driver" that looked like the one in MSR...then, I'd prefer just to keep those windows blacked-out! :lol
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i supose everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but, lets not forget that the tracks are modeled down to the park benches and when driving around picadilly you dont have to wrestle with the steering wheel do you? remember this isn't a GT3 of 355 it is MSR. which does things in a different and refreshing way. not GT1 with tarted up visuals.
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I suppose Bizarre could always shoe-horn a rally section into MSR 2, like Sony did with GT2 :) Oh, and there were going to be drag racing sections in GT2 too, hence the stupidly fast drag cars you get which are only playable on the Test Track.
Play some of the tracks, feel the bumps in the roads! I reckon Tokyo has more bumpy roads personally :)
P.S. Sod it. Need to fix steering wheel. Broke during MSR play. Me unhappy :(
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off road rallying you can! in st james's park!
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This [drag racing sections ] was included in the Japanese version of GT2, but was removed from the US & PAL versions. ;)
It's removal from the US version caused the game to have a "100%" bug - you could win every single race in the game, and still only have a 98.XX complete rating...because the other (Drag) races were missing! :lol
Hey, fair enough, you guys obviously like MSR more than I do, so I won't try and convince you otherwise!
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and don't forget me!
i like it more than you :)
.... but I'm starting to play more and more f355
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Hehe
Oh, fancy seeing you here! :)
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I think you're forgetting that MSR is set in REAL cities, unlike Gran Turismo, and that means that if there aren't any lumps and bumps in the roads of the city, there aren't going to be any in the game either! Think about it.
Anyhow, no-one can deny that MSR isn't one of the funkiest racing games ever, if not for it's graphics, but for it's great handling, or for the novel kudos system or because it's gonna take you ages to complete!
That's my two cents :)
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I think anyone who says MSR is crap is crap at it. My dad is exactly that. He gets all pissy with the game and says the points system doesn't work. :rolleyes He also says "Ooh, there shouldn't be so much of the game locked away". Yeah, like, you are actually meant to play it. He never got past Chapter 1! Doh!
But, me and my mum are a lot more patient than he is, we got down to playing it, and we both love it to bits! So I think you guys deserve kudos yourselves for creating such a kick ass game! :D
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Just thought I had to add 'em...
So, some of us have not been playing the same game then?
In my US version, the cars are beautiful, there are height variations in the courses (was just playing the Tokyo tracks this morning, plenty of it - love that Shibuya Kita).
The ONLY bug I noticed, and I have been playing the game like an obsessed mofo, is related to the "Custom CD" you can create. In 1P mode, I have to enter and re-exit the CD Player option to "boot(?)" it properly; else, the "custom CD" that'll be playing will be one I didn't create, w/ tracks all mixed up (for the ones I put in there) or tracks I didn't even include. There's one about it in 2P mode too, but enough bugs, some people here are very good at reporting them. Slowdown? Only in 2P mode, only sometimes. Why? Because it is the only racer I've played which retains EVERY graphical element for that mode, every other game cutting down everything to just the track and borders.
I was just thinking, MSR is the best racer I've played, and I was a GT fan in the PS era...
Thank you Bizarre for the freshness, and please give us MSR2 cause I can't get enough. :)
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Don't listen to that 'mingle-mangle', just turn it off.
You should listen with good headphones to the effects produced by the car and enviroment! Like the reflections - genious...
Now, that's music!
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Yeh, I noticed that personal CD bug as well... I have to enter the CD player upon the first booting of the game and go into the "create CD" thingy and press "Store" again. All my selected tracks are still correct in there...
And [redacted], about that "All the roads are flat"-shite. Obviously, you have never played the Asakusa or Shibuya courses. So I think you should get a better overview of things before you start bashing the game.
Pah!
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Yep, the only bug in my non bugged copy which I got back from sega, is the personal CD. Its not that much of a prob, but it is annoying. Class game though.
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Hi Dudes i'm on the last level and its getting on my rubys big time. All i have is the 4.2 celica and i'm racing 3 5.0 litre monsters in rain ! this celica has the best traction out the lot but i cant beat them speed 5.0 freaks.
Anyone clocked it ? or know any tricks ? Another thing i still have the buggered copy and why is it that all the fast small cars have useless traction in the rain.
Making it impossible to control/steer the vehicle in wet never mind heavy rain !
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Hey [redacted].
I cleared it using the Celica GT Four. Wasn't exactly easy, but it's definitely not the hardest race in the game. I beat it after like 3 tries.
My best tip is to use manual transmission and switch off ABS.
It's also imperative to learn good blocking techniques using the rear view (maybe the most underestimated technique in the game), since the GTR's are much faster on the straightaways. If you block them good enough, they will either bump into your arse and lose speed, or spin out trying to avoid you. It's a win-win situation...
Good luck mate! ^_^
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The first of those three champ races is definatly the hardest. I beat it in bout 3 goes as well. Little tip -if your ahead of the others in that tricky bit in the park (zig zag), then youve got the lap. If they try to overtake just block em.
